Skyrim Hearthfire: Story behind new DLC

It only seems like yesterday when Hearthfire was announced as the next DLC expansion for Skyrim, but already Bethesda are preparing to release it for Xbox 360. It is going to be available to buy exclusively this week and we have a fantastic insight for you to check out which gives you a clear idea of the thinking process that went into making the new content.

Let’s forget the current situation for PS3 with Dawnguard for a second, as we’ve wrote about that countless times now and it’s best to just wait until Bethesda drops an official update. The company are now firmly shifting focus to Hearthfire and regardless if they had been working on this when they should have been working on PS3 Dawnguard, there’s no denying that Hearthfire looks fantastic, even if the content is smaller than Dawnguard in size.

It’s the scope that Bethesda will want you to embrace though, as building your own house and family will hopefully provide you with that final piece of the jigsaw in your epic 300 hour plus adventure as you look to settle down and experience a different kind of Elder Scrolls lifestyle.

Bethesda has revealed a Hearthfire diary on their website, which shares the thoughts of Bruce Nesmith – the lead designer for the new content. Like other new content seen in Dawnguard, he reveals that the main concept behind Hearthfire was developed during the company’s GameJam event, in which employees have a collective fun day and go crazy on new ideas that were not included in the base game.

Expanding on the house crafting abilities appeared to get the green light from Bethesda’s Todd Howard and we also get the revelation that Minecraft was also one of the main inspirations for the new content – ironic given the fact that ZeniMax and Minecraft owner Mojang were recently in the courts over a copyright issue involving the term ‘Scrolls’.

It’s clear that Hearthfire is going to offer gamers a lot more than simply building a house though, with the option to place elaborate items such as greenhouses, singing bards and even mounted mudcrabs inside your new palace. The new expansion is out September 4th, so not long to wait at all.

Will you be buying Hearthfire, or are you disappointed that there wasn’t any other features included in the expansion, other than building a house?